Breakdown of Надо добавить в суп щепотку перцу и немного чесноку.
и
and
суп
soup
немного
a little
в
in / to (direction)
надо
must, need to
перец
the pepper
добавить
to add
щепотка
pinch
чеснок
garlic
Questions & Answers about Надо добавить в суп щепотку перцу и немного чесноку.
Why do перец and чеснок end in -у (перцу, чесноку) instead of the usual genitive -а?
This showcases the Partitive Genitive, also known as the Second Genitive. Certain masculine uncountable mass nouns, especially foods and materials, can take -у or -ю to indicate a quantity or a part of a whole. After quantity words like щепотка (a pinch) and немного (a little), using перцу and чесноку sounds very natural and traditionally Russian, though the regular genitive forms перца and чеснока are also perfectly correct.
What happened to the -е- in the middle of перец?
The word перец (pepper) has what is called a fleeting vowel. When an ending is added to the word, the last -е- drops out. That is why it becomes перцу rather than перецу. You will see this happen with many Russian words ending in -ец, like отец becoming отца.
Why is the word for pinch in the accusative case (щепотку) if it is followed by genitive words?
The word щепотка is the direct object of the verb добавить (to add). You are adding a pinch, so it takes the feminine accusative ending -у. The ingredients themselves are in the partitive genitive because they modify the quantity words щепотку and немного, answering the question: a pinch or a little of what?
Why do we use в суп (accusative) instead of в супе (prepositional)?
The preposition в takes the accusative case here because the action of adding involves direction or motion into the soup. If you used the prepositional case (в супе), it would imply the action of adding was just taking place while you were already physically located inside the soup!
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